• Toxicological Research
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.125-131
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• 2009

Korea is representative of a country that consumes herbal medicines; most of the herbal medicines circulating in South Korea have been imported from developing countries in Southeast Asia, such as China and Indonesia. Recently, domestic hygiene and safety are issues that have come to the forefront, because herbal medicines currently in circulation could possibly contain contaminants or residues. Furthermore, the appearance or discovery of harmful new species due to environmental and industrial developments is becoming a social problem. Therefore, it may be necessary to consider and investigate these matters on a continual basis. Recently, mycotoxin contaminations in such foods as cereals, nuts, and powdered red pepper have been reported. They have become a problematic issue; the possibility of contamination in herbal medicines has also been considered. Nevertheless, recognition of and research into mycotoxin contamination in herbal medicines has been scarce because herbal medicine is used in only a few nations. In this research, we identified contamination by aflatoxin which is known to be the most potent mutagenic, carcinogenic, and teratogenic mycotoxin in Thujae Semen, a herbal medicine. We also found co-contaminations involving other mycotoxins, including ochratoxin A and zeraleanone.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.203-216
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• 1999

This paper describes a set of multi-pathway models for estimating health risk to lead. The models link concentrations of an environmental contaminant (lead) in air, water and food to human exposure through inhalation, ingestion, and dietary routes. Exposure is used as the foundation for predicting risk of health detriment within the population. The process of estimating exposure using often limited data and extrapolating to a large diverse population requires many assumption, inferences, and simplification. This paper is divided into four section. The first section provides lead contaminant levels on obtaining environmental concentration of air, tap water, and foods. The second section provides a discussion of exposure parameters and uncertainty associated predicting human health risk of contaminants. The third and fourth section illustrate lifetime average daily exposure (LADE) and excess cancer risk (ECR) based on exposure parameters. The relationship between concentration of lead in an environmental medium and human exposure is determined with pathway exposure factors (PEFs). The calculation of LADE and ECR is carried out using Monte-Carlo simulation with probability density function of exposure parameters. Examination of the result reveals that, for lead exposure, ingestion (food) is the dominant route of exposure rather than inhalation (air), and ingestion (tap eater).

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.119-127
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the contamination level of micro plastics in Korean mackerel and to investigate the detection method of micro plastics in fish. This study analyzed the detection and composition of micro plastics using natural mackerel and wild mackerel. 30% hydrogen peroxide and surfactant were added to GF/C filter paper in order to detect micro plastics in the sea. If micro plastics are exposed to the ocean for a long time, accumulation of heavy metals in the water will make pollutant bioaccumulation more serious. Microscopic consequences The risk to human health of plastics has already been studied by many researchers and the risks to human health already caused by marine microorganisms and zooplankton are becoming clear. The conclusion of this study is that there is a difference between the length and height of the mackerel when it is cooked from the standpoint of food in terms of practical implications. The conclusion of this study is that the probability of micro-plastic-contaminated mackerel to reach and be consumed by end-consumers is low in academic implications. Residual contaminants adsorbed on micro plastics are absorbed by digestive organs and cause disruption, and further research on micro plastics is needed in the future.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.189-191
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• 2013

Mycotoxins such as aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), ochratoxin A (OTA) and zearalenone (ZEA) are widespread contaminants of food and feedstuffs. It is very likely, that humans and animals are always exposed to mixtures of mycotoxins rather than to individual compounds. Therefore, risk assessments should consider mixture toxicity data. In the present study the combination of AFB1, OTA and ZEA was tested for genotoxicity in rat bone marrow and blood leukocytes after 15, 30 and 60 days treatment. The level of DNA damage was determined by the comet assay. The tail intensity and Olive tail moment in leukocytes and bone marrow cells were significantly higher than in controls. At the same time, the level of DNA damage in bone marrow cells was higher than in leukocytes. The data suggests that prolonged exposure to mycotoxins combination through food consumption can induce DNA damage contributing to the harmful effects in vivo.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.63-73
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• 2018

Rice is a staple food source in Asian countries. In paddy field, rice plant can take up toxic elements through its roots from contaminated soils, and its leaves and grain can absorb the toxic elements deposited on the soil surface. A totla of 40 soil and polished rice samples were collected around four abandoned metal mines in Korea and analyzed for As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn by atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The average contents of As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in rice grain grown on the contaminated soils were 0.247, 0.174, 4.694, 0.804 and 16.78 mg/kg, respectively. These levels are higher than worldwide average concentrations. Assuming the rice consumption of 169 g/day by overall households in Korea, the estimated daily intakes from the rices were found to be 33, 48, and 63% for As, Cd, and Pb, respectively, of the acceptable daily intake (ADI) suggested by the FAO/WHO Joint Food Additive and Contaminants Committee.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.373-384
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• 2016

The membrane-aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) is a promising municipal wastewater treatment process. In this study, two cross-flow MABRs were constructed to explore the carbon and nitrogen removal performance and bacterial succession, along with changes of influent loading shock comprising flow velocity, COD, and NH₄-N concentrations. Redundancy analysis revealed that the function of high flow velocity was mainly embodied in facilitating contaminants diffusion and biosorption rather than the success of overall bacterial populations (p > 0.05). In contrast, the influent NH₄-N concentration contributed most to the variance of reactor efficiency and community structure (p < 0.05). Pyrosequencing results showed that Anaerolineae, and Beta- and Alphaproteobacteria were the dominant groups in biofilms for COD and NH₄-N removal. Among the identified genera, Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira were the main nitrifiers, and Hyphomicrobium, Hydrogenophaga, and Rhodobacter were the key denitrifiers. Meanwhile, principal component analysis indicated that bacterial shift in MABR was probably the combination of stochastic and deterministic processes.

• The Korean Journal of Food & Health Convergence
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.13-21
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• 2021

The goal of this study was to quantify the content of heavy metals (Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, Hg) in the bivalve Mytilus galloprovincialis, which was obtained from the Black Sea's Sinop peninsula, as well as estimate the health risks. Concentrations of heavy metals in mussels' soft tissues ranged between 16.4-21.8, 0.52-0.93, 0.13-0.45; 0.015-0.019 and 0.006-0.011mg kg^-1 wet weight for Zn, Cu, Pb, Hg and Cd, respectively. In general, metal concentrations in mussels were quite low. In mussels, Zn was the most prevalent element, followed by Cu. Regarding the monthly variation, although relatively higher tissue metal concentrations were observed in August compared to July, no statistical difference was found. The estimated daily intakes did not exceed the tolerable intakes. There was no health risk since the total hazard index was far below critical value 1. This demonstrates that eating mussels from the Sinop coasts in 2019 does not cause any health risks in infants, children, or adult. Mussels have a risk index of less than 10^-6, which is considered insignificant. In conclusion, the results of this study show that there is no heavy metal pollution in the mussels collected from Sinop coasts.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.675-682
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• 2011

This study was conducted to monitor the concentrations of 24 anti-impotence drugs and their analogues in various foods and dietary supplements, with the aim of ensuring the safety of the foods and supplements. The measurements were done in 226 samples using high performance liquid chromatography/photodiode array detector (HPLC/PDA) and liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS). Five male sexual function enhancing products have been detected as follows: acethylvardenafil (21,476 mg/kg; 15 mg/capsule from one sample), sildenafil (52,778 mg/kg, 29 mg/capsule in one sample; 71,535 mg/kg, 48 mg/capsule in one sample), and tadalafil (9,772-55,545 mg/kg, 6-33 mg/capsule in four samples). A sustainable monitoring of anti-impotence drugs and their analogues in various foods and dietary supplement is recommended.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.992-997
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• 2002

Contents of heavy metals in sugar products were estimated to provide a scientific basis for standardization of Korea Food Code of heavy metals. The contents of mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As) and copper (Cu) were determined in 285 sugar product samples using a mercury analyzer, atomic absorption spectrophotometer, and inductively coupled plasma spectrometer. The values of heavy metals in sugar products $[minimum{\sim}maximum\;(mean),\;mg/kg]$ were as follows: $Hg,\;N.D.{\sim}0.006 (0.001);$ $Pb,\;N.D.{\sim}0.47 (0.03);$ $Cd,\;N.D.{\sim}0.06(0.005);\;As,\;N.D.{\sim}0.10(0.004);\;Cu,\;N.D.{\sim}1.89(0.15)$. These results show that metal contents of domestic sugar products are similar to those reported in other countries. Weekly average intakes of lead, cadmium, and mercury from sugar products were $0.004{\sim}0.1%$ of Provisional Tolerable Weekly Intake set by FAO/WHO Joint Food Additives and Contaminants Committee to evaluate the safeties of sugar products.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.113.1-113.1
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• 2014

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has long been projected as a powerful analytical technique for chemical and biological sensing applications. Pairing with portable Raman spectrometers makes the technique extremely appealing as real-time sensors for field application. However, the lack of reliable, uniform, low cost and ease-of-use SERS enhancement structures has prevented the wide adoption of this technique for general applications. We have discovered a novel hybrid structure based on the high-density and uniform arrays of gold nanofingers over a large surface area for SERS applications. The nanofingers are flexible and their tips can be brought together to trap molecules to mimic the biological system. We report here a rapid, simple, low-cost, and sensitive method of detecting trace level of food contaminants by using nanofinger chips based on portable SERS technique. We also present here the characterization of surface reaction of target molecules with our gold nanofinger substrates and the effect of nanofinger closing towards SERS performance. This new type of nano-structures can potentially revolutionize the medical and biologic research by providing a novel way to capture, localize, manipulate, and interrogate biological molecules with unprecedented capabilities.